Marketing communications

University Computing Centre

Marketing Communications

04/10/2023 1Marketing Mgt

Marketing communications

• Marketing communications are messages and related media used to communicate with a market.


Marketing communications

• Marketing communications is the "promotion" part of the "marketing mix" or the "four Ps":

PricePlace,Promotion, and Product


4 P’s - Product

• Product - A product is seen as an item that satisfies what a consumer demands. It is a tangible good or an intangible service. For example good will for intangible. Tangible products are those that have an independent physical existence.

04/10/2023 Marketing Mgt 4

4 P’s - Product

• Every product is subject to a life-cycle including a growth phase followed by a maturity phase and finally an eventual period of decline as sales falls.


4 P’s - Product

• Marketers must do careful research on how long the life cycle of the product they are marketing is likely to be and focus their attention on different challenges that arise as the product move.


4 P’s - Product

• What does the customer want from the product/service? What needs does it satisfy?

• How and where will the customer use it? What does it look like?

• How will customers experience it?


4 P’s - Product

• What size(s), color(s), and so on, should it be?• What is it to be called? • How is it branded? • How is it differentiated versus your

competitors • What is the most it can cost to provide, and

still be sold sufficiently profitably?


4 P’s - Price

• Price - the amount a customer pays for the product. The price is very important as it determines the company's profit and hence, survival.


4 P’s - Price

• Adjusting the price has a deep impact on the marketing strategy, and depending on the price elasticity of the product, often it will affect the demand and sales as well.


4 P’s - Price

• The marketer should set a price that complements the other elements of the marketing mix.


4 P’s - Price

• What is the value of the product or service to the buyer?

• What discounts should be offered to trade customers, or to other specific segments of your market?

• How will your price compare with your competitors?


4 P’s - Promotion

• Promotion - all of the methods of communication that a marketer may use to provide information to different parties about the product. Promotion comprises elements such as: advertising, public relations, personal selling and sales promotion


4 P’s - Promotion

• Advertising covers any communication that is paid for, from cinema commercials, radio and Internet advertisements through print media and public notice


4 P’s

• Public relations is where the communication is not directly paid for and includes press releases, sponsorship deals, exhibitions, conferences, seminars or trade fairs and events.


4 P’s - Promotion

• Word-of-mouth is any apparently informal communication about the product by ordinary individuals, satisfied customers or people specifically engaged to create word of mouth momentum. Sales staff often plays an important role in word of mouth and public relations.


4 P’s - Promotion

• Where and when can you get across your marketing messages to your target market?

• Will you reach your audience by advertising in the press, or on TV, or radio, or on billboards?

• When is the best time to promote? Is there seasonality in the market?

• How do your competitors do their promotions?


4 P’s - Place

• Place - refers to providing the product at a place which is convenient for consumers to access


4 P’s - Place

• Where do buyers look for your product or service?

• How can you access the right distribution channels?

• What do you competitors do, and how can you learn from that and/or differentiate?


Marketing communicators

• Those who practice advertising, branding, brand language, direct marketing, graphic design, marketing, packaging, promotion, publicity, sponsorship, public relations, sales, sales promotion and online marketing are termed marketing communicators, marketing communication managers, or more



• Advertising or advertizing is a form of communication for marketing and used to encourage, persuade, or manipulate an audience (viewers, readers or listeners; sometimes a specific group) to continue or take some new action



• Brand is the "name, term, design, symbol, or any other feature that identifies one seller's product distinct from those of other sellers"



• Brand language is the body of words, phrases, and terms that an organization uses to describe its purpose or in reference to its products.



• Direct marketing is a channel-agnostic form of advertising that allows businesses and nonprofits organizations to communicate straight to the customer, with advertising techniques that can include Cell Phone Text messaging, email, interactive consumer websites



• Sales promotions can be directed at either the customer, sales staff, or distribution channel members (such as retailers). Sales promotions targeted at the consumer are called consumer sales promotions.



• Public relations (PR) is the practice of managing the spread of information between an individual or an organization and the public



• A sale is the act of selling a product or service in return for money or other compensation



• Online advertising, also called Internet advertising, uses the Internet to deliver promotional marketing messages to consumers. It includes email marketing, search engine marketing, social media marketing, many types of display advertising (including web banner advertising), and mobile advertising


Communication process

• The communication process is sender-encoding-transmission device-decoding-receiver, which is part of any advertising or marketing program.



• Encoding the message is the second step in communication process, which takes a creative idea and transforms it into attention-getting advertisements designed for various media (television, radio, magazines, and others).



• Messages travel to audiences through various transmission devices.

The third stage of the marketing communication process occurs when a channel or medium delivers the message



• Decoding occurs when the message reaches one or more of the receiver's senses.


The Growing Importance of Integrated Marketing Communication

• Search marketing: When someone is considering buying a product or service they will often conduct an online search. What they find, on Google and other search engines, as well as information from news sites, review sites, directories, videos and place-based searches, are presented together, so like it or not, there is a level of combination.



Accessibility & convenience: Consumers expect information and services that relate to a brand to be conveniently accessible via its website. For instance when a consumer visits Virgin.com they are able to book a flight, manage their money, top up their mobile phone plan or find up-to-date news about the company



Social media: Traditionally businesses were largely in control of their brand communications. Now brand communications are multidirectional as consumers can easily share, comment and create content.



Growth of mobile: The growing accession of smart phones with fast internet connectivity means that marketers need to take into consideration integration between the online experience and place-based experiences


Business

Marketing communications